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Albert Rothenberg, M.D.

About

Albert Rothenberg, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is the Principal Investigator of the project entitled “Studies in the Creative Process,” which focuses on the psychiatric and psychological bases of creativity in literature, art, psychotherapy, and science.

He has spent many years treating patients with both severe and moderate mental illness at the hospitals Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and the Yale Psychiatric Institute in New Haven, Connecticut. He has also conducted outpatient treatment with a large number of patients with a broad range of types and degrees of illness. A native of New York City and Connecticut, he attended Harvard College, Tufts University School of Medicine, and received his psychiatric training at the Yale University Department of Psychiatry where he subsequently became a member of the faculty for several years until moving to Harvard in 1981.

He has been a recipient of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Award, two NIMH Research Career Development Awards, Tufts Medical Alumni Award, U.S. Army Certificate of Merit, the Golestan Award, and the Mesab Kovler Award. He has also been honored with yearlong resident Fellowships at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Wassenar and on two separate occasions at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavior Sciences at Stanford. He is a twenty years long official nominator for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

His major publications include:

Flight from Wonder: An Investigation of Scientific Creativity (Oxford U Press)

The Emerging Goddess: The Creative Process in Art, Science, and Other Fields (U Chicago Press)—awarded Psychology Today Best Behavioral Science Book of the Year

The Creative Process of Psychotherapy (Norton)

Adolescence:Psychopathology, Normality, and Creativity (W.W. Saunders)

Creativity and Madness: New Findings and Old Stereotypes (Johns Hopkins U Press)

(with C.R. Hausman) The Creativity Question (Duke U Press)

Living Color. A novel (York Press)

Madness and Glory. A novel (Pegasus)

He has published 145 scientific articles, 121 of which have been on the topic of creativity.

He is married to professor and artist Julia Johnson Rothenberg. They have spent a good deal of time in Europe, particularly in recent years in the Netherlands, Paris, and throughout the small villages of Provence in the southern part of France. For a six month period in Paris, Dr. Rothenberg occupied the esteemed position of Visiting Professor of Psychiatry at the Salpêtrière Hospital.

Recent Posts
The Janusian Process in Creativity
The Janusian process, consisting of the conception of two or more simultaneous, yet contradictory ideas, has been the creative basis of valuable literary works.
Creativity and Mental Illness
Despite the overt and sometimes extreme mental illness in some great creative people throughout history, there is no necessary causal connection between the two.
Depression, Physical Illness, and the Faces of Rembrandt

Rembrandt's self-portrait masterpieces unified the costume contours with his face, portraying the artist as a universal man.

Rembrandt's self-portrait masterpieces unified the costume contours with his face, portraying the artist as a universal man.

The Background of Scientific Genius

Although it is often thought that geniuses are born and not made, the evidence presented here for all 20th and 21st-century scientific Nobel laureates indicates psychological factors.

Although it is often thought that geniuses are born and not made, the evidence presented here for all 20th and 21st-century scientific Nobel laureates indicates psychological factors.

Alcoholism and Creativity: The Case of John Cheever

John Cheever's writing of his most outstanding work, the novel "Falconer," was interrupted by a bout of severe alcoholism. After treatment, his creativity powerfully returned.

John Cheever's writing of his most outstanding work, the novel "Falconer," was interrupted by a bout of severe alcoholism. After treatment, his creativity powerfully returned.

Empathic Therapy
Empathy in Art and Psychotherapy

Empathy is a crucial factor in creating art and is meaningfully effective in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Examples from the therapies of a woman and a male are described.

Empathy is a crucial factor in creating art and is meaningfully effective in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Examples from the therapies of a woman and a male are described.

The Link Between OCD and Eating Disorders in Adolescence

Although anorexia has long been considered to be a manifestation of depression, it may be more helpful to view it as a kind of OCD.

Although anorexia has long been considered to be a manifestation of depression, it may be more helpful to view it as a kind of OCD.

The Homospatial Process in Visual Art

The homospatial process is a key element in the production of metaphors both visual and verbal. Entire works of art and literature may function as aesthetic metaphors.

The homospatial process is a key element in the production of metaphors both visual and verbal. Entire works of art and literature may function as aesthetic metaphors.